Little is known about the coping and resilience experiences of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the Malaysian cultural context. This study utilized a qualitative methodological approach adopting constructive grounded theory. The study sought to address the lack of research to date exploring the risk and protective experiences that contribute to parental stress and resilience for parents of primary school age children with ASD in the Malaysian setting. Twenty-two parents of children with ASD (13 mothers and 9 fathers) participated in semi-structured interviews. A strength of the study was the inclusion of both mother and father participant perspectives. The interviews lasted 50–80 min (mean: 67.5 min). The 22 parents had a total of 16 children (12 males; 4 females) formally diagnosed with ASD. Child age ranged between 5 and 12 years (mean age: 8.44). Overall, analysis of the 22 interviews revealed four prominent themes – “initial reaction to child’s ASD symptoms and diagnosis,” “family life affected by a child with ASD,” “awareness about ASD in Malaysia,” and “coping strategies, wellbeing, and becoming resilient.” The first three themes revolved around stress and adversity, and, the adaptability and acceptance of the parents. These processes illustrated the risks experienced by the parents of children with ASD in Malaysia. The last theme especially highlighted the strengths and determination of the parents and illustrated the protective experiences and processes that helped parents to develop and enhance resilience. Overall, the findings revealed that resilience develops synergistically and dynamically from both risk and protective experiences across different levels – individual, family, community, society and government. The findings motivated the development of our theoretical model of resilience that can help health and education professionals tailor assessment and interventions for parents of children with ASD in the Malaysian context. Clinical, policy, and research suggestions were discussed.

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Abstract:The economic burden of families with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) children that are far beyond the needs of typical children causes physical and mental stress for their parents. The study aims to examine the economic burden of parents with ASD children in Malaysia. Calculation is made using a cost-loss approach due to ASD that include direct, indirect and developmental costs. Using convenient sampling method, a total of 245 parents have filled out questionnaires through online or hard copies. Development costs represent the highest cost of RM20,989.33, followed by medical direct costs RM8,378.73, RM5,033.57 for non-medical direct costs and RM963.99 for indirect costs. The total cost of financing an ASD child is RM35,365.62 a year. This is a huge and burdensome amount for parents. The findings of this study may assist responsible parties in the planning of effective service provision to suit the need of parents with ASD children in Malaysia.

Social-emotional development at an early age is pivotal and it is significantly affecting children's future life. Children with good social-emotional skills will succeed in academic and later life. Nevertheless, to make sure all children mastered social-emotional skills, teachers need to be empowered with the knowledge, teaching approach, teaching strategies and good practices on social-emotional development first. Teachers with good knowledge and practices can support, nurture and foster children's social-emotional development positively. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the Malaysian early childhood educators' perceptions regarding social-emotional development. This study used a survey research design and quantitative approach. A self-developed questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire comprises four variables, which is an overview of social-emotional development, factors associated with social-emotional development, social-emotional learning in the classroom and social-emotional skills. A total of 332 early childhood educators participated in this research were selected using a random sampling technique. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using the Statistical Package for Social Science to answer the research questions. Findings showed Malaysian early childhood educators have a moderate perception of social-emotional development. Furthermore, the descriptive analysis showed, Malaysian early childhood educators have a good understanding of the overview and skills of social-emotional development variables. However Malaysian early childhood educators demonstrated a poor understanding of the factors associated with social-emotional development and how socialemotional should be taught in the classroom variables. The findings from this study are discussed on teachers' roles and practice to support children's social-emotional development.